2018 Sheep Hunt, no luck

[Vossie]

After 2 attempts with the Jetboat guys I thought I might give it a try for a Highway hike in sheep hunt. Not getting any hints on locations from guys I pinged on this site I thought I would just wing it. Over the last three years I’ve been looking at google earth for suitable locations, not too close, not too easy and try to get away from others. Get 2 days back and hunt from there was what I was told.
So the decision was made, going up Otelsas creek sounds like a good plan. Not knowing where the trail starts or, if there will even be a trail I decided to just do it. Another item was the size of that creek, I could see water so I thought better get a pair of Wiggy’s waders just in case.


Once again I am without a sheep partner. I pinged KROD since he was looking for an alpine deer hunter and he jumped onboard right away.
9 weeks of training, some gear review with KROD and finally the day is here to go. The drive north was uneventful. July 29 we park the truck outside “Gundahoo” basecamp and head for the creek. We find a trail. The heat is intense and the bugs are bad, but we are fueled by the thought of mountain slopes littered with sheep. 2 hours into the hike we hit Otelsas, mmm, not too bad but you need your waders. We cross with no issues, not knowing that over the next two days we will cross this creek 16 times. After 2pm it felt like someone left the oven door open and you get these warm wafts of air. We reached our point (#3) I thought we should get to on day 1 and pass it, at 5:30 we made camp.



Up early the next morning and continue hiking, more creek crossings. We pass a confluence and although the water is less the grade is increasing making the creek deeper and faster. The last three crossings are hairy, but we are now committed, fueled by slopes full of sheep at the end of this trail.



Late afternoon on day two we take a break. I look down at my boots and all of a sudden I see a line I’ve never seen before, I tuck on it and holy crap, the sole is de-laminating from my boot. Lowa Tibet Pro GTX, WTF. I’m shocked, now what. I trained in these boots for 9 weeks and cleaned them 3 days before we left and there was no sign of de-lamination. I don’t even know if I will get back out, not thinking about continuing. We decide to push on and finish the day, not too far till our next stop. We reach a nice running side creek and decide to camp there for the night.



The next day will be a scouting day to decide if we go north or south (#6 or #7). I spend the rest of the afternoon applying some rope to my boots to see if I can stop the de-lamination. The pressure on my toes is ridiculous.
Next morning up and we go south, we find a nice creek to hike up in, a few spots where we need to use all four to get up and over but we make it into an amazing bowl. That’s it, this is where we will spike into for the next 5 days.

[Vossie]

We get to the top of the ridge just to be held down by a thunderstorm. We hid in our pack covers for an hour. It breaks a bit, we get to the top, glass the amazing country for some time and start our way back to camp to prepare for relocation. The brush is wet and we get to camp all soaked. Black flies are out in full force.


The next day we dry our boots and clothes, do some washing. The next day we will spike our camp.
The following morning we are up, packed and ready to go. We keep 2 days of food back for the hike out and hoist it up in a tree.
We get to our bowl and setup camp.


At this point my Lowa’s are de-laminating towards the heel. The front is only held on by the sole glued to the rand in front of the toe. This is bad. Fortunately KROD has a small multi tool, we poke some holes through the sole into the soft rubber, fish some string through and tie a not. 12 knots per boot. I sit there all afternoon to mend boots. KROD ascend up the slope to do some glassing.


Next morning up early, start glassing, we spot Grizzlies almost every day. But no sheep. We get to the top and start glassing 360 degrees, we pick every slope and knob and green spot and rock apart on most slopes, no sheep. I relocate on the ridge about 500m, different angle, start glassing again. Nada. We go down for the evening and my boot seems to hold.

[Vossie]

The next morning up early again, glass the immediate slopes, nothing. Today we split up, I want to get to the knob to the west and go as far as I can. After mid-morning we split. I make my way up there, work around steep sections and up and down shale. This is bad for boots with string holding the soles on, I’m walking on shards of shale that is standing up, they look like blade. But I have 50ft of Para cord, I’m going to keep on hunting even if I use up all 50ft. Finally I see sheep, ewe’s and lambs on the cliff to my right, same elevation. I watch them for some time, picking the rocks apart.






I decide to move to the left and see if I can make my way around and see what is on the back side of this monolith. I climb higher. Finally I get to a section that consist of rock slides and islands of rock. This is nasty. I decide to cross over. I need to see the back side. I cross over the first rock slide. Not good. I make it to some solid rock. I pass over the second one, these are loose rocks ranging from football size to cooler box sizes. I cross the third one, I step on a rock and it moves a bit, I step on the next one and it slides about 5 ft, it creates a bit of small rock slide. I look up and there is about 75 yards of rocks all at a steep angle above me. This is stupid I tell myself, if these rocks start to slide down and create an avalanche of rock the they will never find me, there must be a 100 ton of rock just in this small slide. Bad idea, not worth it. I turn around and cross the 2 I just did, back to solid ground. I glass from there for hours, no sheep. I make my way back to camp.

[Vossie]

The next day I plan a bigger day. Hunt them on your feet I hear. Ok I will put some miles in. I head east, some amazing country opens up and I glass. I see a mountain tip in the distance. That is my goal, I call it the Matterhorn, kinda looks like it. I make my way over there through the course of the morning and afternoon. See more Caribou. I finally get to the base, I’m going to skirt around it. I climb higher, wow the view behind it is spectacular. More high country slopes and rock and slides, the stuff you should see sheep in. I glass, nothing. There is now a second peak in the distance, ok I will go for that one as well. This afternoon the smoke is starting to roll in. The further slopes are not worth glassing anymore. I get to the second slope, pick it apart. I take my boots off to release the pressure on my toes from the rope. I sit there for a few hours. I’m starting to get that disappointing feeling, another year of ball busting climbing and hiking and effort and I did not even see a ram. Its late afternoon and I am well away from the tent, almost halfway back to the truck I figure. I see a nice big Caribou bull. Turnaround time is here, from now on its back.








I get to camp late that evening, tired. KROD took some time off in camp to nurture and rest a sore ankle. He told me he was in the tent when marmot colony next to us started to alarm. They did that before and there was a Caribou about 50 yards from our tent. Only this time he gets out and a Grizz sow and two 2 year old cubs are on the opposite slope about 100 yards from the tent, he gets out and scare them away, fortunately she takes off and run up and over the slope with cubs in tow.

The next morning its time to get back to base camp. I glass for a bit but now the smoke is so thick its impossible. We head back, get to our stash and continue back. The creek is a bit lower already, at least that is what it feels like. The next morning the smoke is even thicker, you can smell it in the tent. We get up and get going. About an hour before the truck my on sole came off completely from the heel forward, only the toe and my stiches are holding it on. I don’t know if I would have been able to pack a ram out with these boots, but I would have done whatever was needed to do it.

The drive back to the lower mainland is long, but it is even longer when you come back empty handed.

I pick this spot since it was good looking, lots of trails were visible and access was not that easy. What I came to learn is that trails doesn’t mean that there is sheep, those trails were made by goats and Caribou. Only once did we see 3 hunters way in the distance crossing a mountain closer to the highway and never any horse hunters.

What I came to realize is that you need to know where the rams are, otherwise you will wander in these mountains for years. Years I don’t have.

[tinhorse]

Sounds like an awesome hunt none the less. Really crappy about the boot situation and am glad you made it back most the way with it like that. Some guys hike in for days and can't find them others like a buddy of mine drive up the Hwy park, go for a 3 hour hike in a spot he's never looked at and end up with a ram.....keep at it and IT WILL happen! Good luck with the rest of your season.

[twoSevenO]

You did a trip 99% of hunters wouldnt do. You have the drive, no doubt. If I was you I would try and meet some sheep hunters who could help ya out. While I wouldnt expect gps coordinates sometimes it's enough to just bounce ideas off of experienced hunters and most of them will at least tell you something useful.

Have you attended the sheep counts or any sheep related banquets/dinners? Might be a good start. I'm not a sheep hunter yet, but it's on my bucket list in the next 5 years .... and that's what I would do as far as meeting some sheep hunter friends that might be willing to help me.

I've done the same with some deer hunters on here and some of the guys have helped me tremendously!!

Thanks for sharing your story and pics. It looked like a tough trip! Those bugs are nasty!

[brn2ryd]

Sheep or no sheep, sounds like you had a great hunt. Nice MacGyver skills on the boots.

[canucks6]

Great read thanks for posting. Ur a badass individual. When you do finally pull the trigger and watch that big ram hunch up every bit of blood and swet will be fergot about.

[wildcatter]

Tough hunt and good looking country, but unless you know where to go it's almost impossible to find them.
The bugs must have been nasty and not good about the boots. Aquaseal is a good glue but it takes at least
24 hours to dry, hypalon glue is faster and once it's set will hold pretty good.
I would love to go on a sheep hunt, but my age is working against me.
Right now I am building my cabin in the Cariboo and once I'm settled I will think about doing it.
Nice pictures and thanks for posting your story.

[Bear Chaser]

Tough hunt and you guys put in the work for sure.
I had a sole delaminate on a pair of Meindl boots in the first days of a horseback hunt years ago. Fortunately I had packed some Loctite Instant adhesive. I applied that to the boot and waited overnight. It held up well for the rest of the trip.
I never leave home without it now and take it on every trip including backpack hunts.
The Meindls got thrown out when I got home just so I wasn’t tempted to use them again. Didn’t feel bad as they were fifteen years old already.